XPS 14 UltraBook Owners Lounge

On paper the 32gb mSATA 'ssd' sits somewhere between the performance of your 256gb SSD and a regular, speed, spinning drive. Is that significant for real world apps, maybe, maybe not. Also, the 32gb really isn't big enough for Windows IMO. Between how it (Win 7 too for that matter) manages updates to DLL files and the size that it grows over time, I would never opt to install Windows in only 32gb of space. But that's me. It could be done and if you installed 'apps' elsewhere, but with apps, you'll easily be well over 32gb. So my point, no real good reason to be using the mSATA 32gb for Windows.

That really only leaves a couple of things.

One, your location for Hibernate and virtual memory. But with an SSD, might as well leave it on your primary OS drive. Not much of a speed/performance benefit there like w/ spinning drives.

Last, file storage or backups. That's what I'm using it for. I keep non-critical files there and it's also a destination to backup my user folder on C. Acronis just runs and backups to the mSATA a couple times per day.

 

Hi all, I just purchased an XPS 14 and I love except for the fact that my ultrabook seems to heat up way too quickly. According to Speedfan, it runs at around my GPU runs at 54 C, and my two cores run on an average of 60 C. Under load (this is only playing something in netflix in one browser and playing tetris on facebook on another), my CPU usage climbs up to 75%-100% and my temps rise up to 62 C for the GPU and 72-80 C for both CPU cores.

So two things I was wondering, is it normal for the CPU to spike up so high for the XPS 14? My previous laptop was a lenovo y560 with an i7 Q740 @ 1.73 GHz. I just figure since this is a 3rd gen Ivy Bridge, it would be just as efficient as my i7, but it seems to be struggling and occasionally throttles when things such as flash players are running.

My second thing I was wondering was what are your average temps? Both idle and under load. I have not yet tried playing a game on my XPS 14 yet for fear that my laptop might overheat and explode on me and such, so I haven't truly tested this thing. Thanks to anyone who can help me with this

 

I'm thinking about buying one of these, but I've seen quite a few mentions that the screen quality isn't that good. People warning of a 'grainy' screen and things like text appearing a little fuzzy.

Do any of you guys have issues with your screens, how do you feel about the screen quality? And if you notice this grainy effect, would it be possible to take a photo and show what you mean?

I'm going to be upgrading from an XPS M1530, which I consider to have a pretty decent screen.

Any opinions welcome, thanks.

 

The screen angles are pretty bad in my opinion. The color reproduction is also not that great. I have not really noticed any grainy text though, but its not exactly perfect. I have a retina display macbook pro, so my views may be biased. Even with that being said, it depends on what you plan to use the laptop for. 1600x900 is great for text and you can fit quite a lot on the screen.

 

The screen debate will continue as long as the XPS 14 is in production: some say it's a deal breaker; others (like myself) don't consider it an issue.

I had an XPS 15z with the FHD before this (which I consider one of the best consumer laptop screens I've ever come across) which I believe was also used in the M1530. Phenomenal screen and you will notice a difference. That being said, it really depends what you do with your laptop - I travel a lot, use it for work, use it for web surfing and play a bit of Guild Wars at night and I find it a very nice compromise of size, function and build quality. I spend a lot of time in front of mine and I actually quite like the screen.

Dell's return policy is pretty decent on XPS rigs - I've bought a couple machines over the years that got sent back the same day they arrived (I'm talking to you 1st gen Inspiron 14z) and the refund came within a week. Buy one and take it for a test drive.

 

Once you go for an SSD the mSATA is pretty pointless. Much like Hylton I use it as a 'backup' and don't even give it a drive letter. If you muck around with different operating systems it's a great place to store system images etc.

 

That sounds about right... it's a great little hand warmer but as far as gaming goes I've used it for many many hours of GW2 without any problems.

Throttling on Flash doesn't quite sound right though.

 

I was actually really really surprised how well GW2 played on it. With the GT630M, I was seeing decent framerates at medium settings.

And as far as the test drive goes, yes, like above stated... Dell is great with returns (even on refurbs). I have returned a few because they did not meet my expectations and I was always happy to find cash back in my account a few days after they got the computer back. Usually its just a phone call or 2 and they are happy to send out the shipping information. If I can sell the 2 other computers I have laying around (or even maybe not), then I plan to keep the 14 as more of a travel companion.

 

did they charge you 15% restocking fee?

On that note with 32G mSSD, I guess im gonna use it to store my "movies collection"

 

When it is within the 21 day period, I don't get charged. If it went beyond that, if they take it back I'm sure they would charge it.

 

So, even with everyone saying not to, I updated the bios to A12 and now the touchpad does not work (after about 2-3 minutes of up time). I updated the synaptics drivers and same outcome. I then went back to A11 and its still happening... thoughts? (Oh yea, forgot to mention that I am running Windows 8)

 

Another weird note... When I sleep it and wake it, the touchpad works until I sign in.

Update* Installing the latest trackpad drivers from synaptics fixed the problem. Currently running A12 and trackpad is better than ever.

 

Do you have mulit finger gestures with the generic drivers from synaptics?

 

Sure do. They don't look the same as the dell drivers though. The dell changed the mouse to dual arrows when moving up and down and the generic ones just leave the mouse alone. The charm gesture and rt one (left one) not sure what its actually called, work just fine too.

 

could someone guide me on how to install irst on the xps 14? i got one that was not setup for irst. all other drivers seem to be installed (no yellow in device manager). so i went ahead and formatted the ssd drive using diskpart id=84. then when i install irst driver from dell, windows always blue screens at startup. do i need a specific setting in bios for irst to work? i see irst in bios but cannot access it. i even did a fresh windows install and still same problem. blue screen as soon as irst driver is installed. thanks guys.

 

Jim, would appreciate if you could tell me the main steps to get rapidstart working. mine wasnt setup properly so i formatted mssd to id=84 using diskpart and tried to install irst driver. resulted in windows blue screen at startup. had to system restore back. i think i maybe missing a setting in bios.

 

Ah. That isn't too bad then. 8 was pretty bad. But 5 is alright.

I'm borrowing a 5 year old Acer Aspire 2930 at the moment and it comes up at 4.

 

Dear Jim (of course anyone else willing to contribute),

Considering you had a 15z: I also have a 15z (mine a 1366X768 display and core i7-2620), and am considering replacing it for a XPS 14 mostly because of size and weight. Considering you are coming from a similar PC, is this a really worthy upgrade? Any regrets?

I expect that buying the XPS 14 with similar specs to my 15z I can get much more pleasant mobility with similar performance (which I'm happy with) and a very small compromise of screen size (though not of screen quality). Is my expectation realistic?

I thank you for any insight.

Marcos

 

anyone here did a fresh install of wn7 on the xps 14 and got intel rapid storage working on the mSATA? i could use your expertise. i am not able to get the raid menu Ctrl+I no matter which SATA option i pick. and i cant boot into windows (BSOD) nor install windows (no drives found) if i select "Intel Smart Performance" in bios sata option.

 

I've actually still got my 15z (nobody on eBay seems to have much interest in a slightly battered Sandy Bridge rig any more...) and I fired it up last weekend. Here's what I noticed:

1. The build quality is much better on the 14 - I'd compare this to a Latitude or a Precision in terms of how solid it feels.
2. The keyboard is identical except there's less spring to it due to the more rigid chassis.
3. You will greatly appreciate the 1600x900 screen but you will find the viewing angles and the color gamut reduced.
4. The 14 lasts a couple hours longer on batteries.
5. Rapid Start is a very nice tech for people who work off of battery a lot. 5 second startup.
6. The 630m feels marginally faster than the 525m - this is one area I think Dell could have been a little more generous with.
7. The 14 runs hotter: smaller chassis equals less efficient heat distribution.
8. The stock hard drive on the 14 is slower than the 15z. I have SSD's in both which equalizes disk access.
9. The palm rest on the 14 is made of this rather nifty magnesium coating that shows fingerprints but is silky smooth to work on.
10. The XPS 14 is built out of machined aluminium - I've had mine for 2 months and it's spotless. My 15z was showing tiny signs of wear in less than month.
11. The speakers on the 14 are much louder but maintain the sound quality.
12. The 14 lacks a built-in optical. Remind me again why anybody cares in 2012.

As far as I'm concerned the 14 is one of the best 'hybrid' machines Dell has produced in the last several years: It's built like a top-end business laptop and looks like a top-end personal laptop. It also costs a lot more than most similar configurations out there so it's designed for a premium audience (ie PC users who appreciate Macs). Considering your 15z has every bell and whistle available in a stock build, it looks like paying more for the 'right' laptop isn't a deal breaker for you.

Subjectively, I far prefer my 14 to my 15z, enough so that I'm actually using my personal 14 as my work laptop, something I never did with my 15z. I travel quite a bit and compared to my Thinkpad T520 the 14 is something I don't mine lugging through an airport.

The dealbreaker for most is the screen and I just don't get it - it's certainly not as good as the 15z FHD but very little on the market is. I find the Gorilla Glass a bit on the reflective side but I'm still trying to sort out why everybody is so worried about the limited viewing angle when there's really only about a 30 degree angle span in normal use. As I previously noted, as soon as I start using my laptop on a trampoline I'll worry about the viewing angle...

Wholeheartedly recommended upgrade.

 

Jim,

Thanks so much for your thorough reply. Just two things:

1 - As I understand you're coming from the Full HD screen on your 15z. I'm coming from the more regular 1366X768, so the new screen shall be OK, I guess. I think viewing angles are so-so on my 15z, but I imagine on the 14 they are pretty much the same, right? Or are they worse? (I had a Precision and that had a great screen, but then...)

2 - I deem my 15z a little noisy on the fan side. I believe I open too much stuff at the same time and fan is almost always running. Is the 14 on the same level of noise?

Thanks again for these last questions.

PS: (I have an intel 520 SSD which I would put in the 14, so the HD is fine by me)

 

Damn double posting...

 

If you had a Precision then you know what I mean about the FHD. The XPS 14 screen seems to me pretty typical for a TN panel on an ultrabook except it's freakishly bright. I rarely run it over 50% and actually downgraded the Win 8 Intel HD 400 drivers because the dimmer didn't work and it was almost painful to use. Go to Costco and check out the screens on the high-end ultrabooks. If you're consistently unimpressed don't buy an XPS 14.

The XPS gets noisy if you really load it really hard - eg games. At work, I normally run Outlook, Word, Excel, a dozen windows in IE, a terminal shell and Windows Media Player with a 1080p extended screen without the fan kicking in. A couple of hours of Guild Wars 2 and you can definitely hear it (and feel the heat). Again, I don't think that's exceptional for discrete graphics in an ultrabook chassis. I also heard the fan pretty good while playing Alan Wake at 16x9 on the 15z. Under major load I found the noise comparable but the XPS 14 can be turned much louder so you don't hear it

As noted - it's an ultrabook (albeit a very heavy one) with some desktop replacement touches.

 

Hey folks. So the deal is that I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna go for an xps 14 ultrabook- the 8gb i5 with the 500 hybrid. It'll be via the dell outlet but want?ed first to gauge the reaction here from owners of it comparing it to what else is out there. My req's:
- look and feel stylish and premium
- wake from idle in seconds (basically I want to get as close to my iPad in terms of speed as I can)
- the trackpad must "work", I've no patience for crap trackpads
- play football manager 13 and Diablo 3
- act as my plex server and work flawlessly


Thoughts appreciated!!!!!!

 

1. Look and feel is top notch. People will mistake it for a mac (not sure if thats a good thing) but in my opinion it even feels better due to the soft touch surfaces. Its extremely sturdy.
2. Wake from idle... instant. (you mean like closing the lid and then opening it right...
3. Trackpad works well but its not as good as a mac. Win8 gestures work well and synaptics is still probably the best Windows option out there.
5. If you play diablo, the 4000 can handle it but I would suggest you opt for the dedicated gfx card (gt630m)
6. Wifi is good, so it should be fine there.


As far as what else is out there, the XPS is one of the better options if you don't mind it being thick for an ultrabook. The thickness goes to good use because of the battery, but of course there are thinner options out there. In the 14 inch category, I really think that it offers alot (very few have a dedicated graphics and shoehorned screen).

 

Yes, it could be a little lighter, it has the same weight as the MacBook Pro Retina, which is 15", but...

Help much appreciated, thanks!

 

Owning both the XPS14 and the Retina pro, the xps has better dimensions that make it "feel" much more portable. Its hefty, but its compact enough that it does not really matter.

 

I agree with everything here. My only other advice is if you do get the 32GB SSD drive along with 512GB drive, upgrade that to a mSATA 128/256 Crucial drive and make that your boot drive and keep the 512GB for storage.

 

If you're thinking about the Core i5, you might want to take a look at the model on sale at Microsoftstore for $799 -- it's the 4GB version but you can always upgrade the RAM:

Buy Dell XPS 14 Ultrabook (14-9091sLV) - 14 inch ultrabook PC with Intel Core i5 processor and HDMI - Microsoft Store Online

-Matt

 

There has to be a catch to that. Probably faulty unit that was returned and they fixed it.

 

The only catch is that you don't get dell's one year door too door service...

 

I could careless about that. I"m saying a whole bunch of money.

Updated: talked to a representative, he confirmed the product is brand new, come with 30 days return policy. I did ask why the price is so far off from the regular price, he said he doesn't know exactly why but probably due to the fact the laptop is running windows 7 and they're trying to lower the stock of Windows 7 computer and make room for Windows 8.

Why cant they install Windows 8 on them and sale at regular price? Wouldnt they make a lot more money?

Btw, is it possible to do a clean install of windows 8 with upgrade key? (since they offer it for $15 vs purchasing the pro version for $40)

 

It may sound silly, but what seems like no hassle for the end user can be a legal hassle for the seller. They already paid for the license for win7, stickered it, and its done... They are still netting off the sale. If they have to buy win 8 and install it, etc... it would just cost them more than if they were to sell it as is. Also, I know that some people could care less about a warranty, but honestly a lot of people really rely on it. I ordered mine (scratch and dent) and called in a psuedo-bs claim just to "test it out" and they are sending a tech to my house tuesday. This is still within my 21 day return period which I very may well end up taking. I have purchased alot of computers in the past few years and as much as people gripe about dell, they are the only company who has sent a guy to my house. Not apple, not asus, not hp... nobody. (I had an alienware that I purchased used and they still sent a guy to my office to fix the hinge... this was 2 years after the manufacture date too...)

As for the microsoft store, I know they have some sort of deal with the manufacturers. They don't put any bloatware on their machines (which is a plus). I would imagine that gives them the ability to charge less too. The reception on the xps14 has been pretty rough anyway, so that is yet another factor for the reduction in price. Either way, its a great machine and at that price, its a very logical choice.

 

Somewhere, way back in this thread is a discussion about someone who bought theirs at Best Buy, but then called Dell to register the purchase with them. IIRC, they then had all the benefits of the warranty as if they'd purchased it from Dell directly. Of course, that was accomplished through the help of Bill and his colleagues -- not sure how that would work now, but it might be worth a call.

-Matt

 

Bill was a giant help to this community. I did read about that with best buy, but really who knows. If someone is super serious about purchasing the one at microsoft, I would suggest confirming and getting it in writing that you get the FULL dell warranty, and not just a standard one.

 

Hey, do you still have the Synaptics Driver, 16.2.21? I updated to A12 and I'm having the same trackpad problem but the Synaptics website is giving me errors why I try to download it.

 

I'm pretty sure I do, I can email it to you if you want... Just pm me your address

 

Alright. It's in your inbox.

 

Should I pull the trigger? Can I get some expert opinions please?

Buy Dell XPS 14 Ultrabook (14-9091sLV) - 14 inch ultrabook PC with Intel Core i5 processor and HDMI - Microsoft Store Online

 

We're not experts. But it's a solid deal and I'm pretty satisfied with mine. I'd strike while the iron is hot. Build quality is exceptionally and I'm really impressed by the rubber coating on the inside. It feels so svelte and nice, but I understand it's not rubber. At the end of the day, you need to decide if this notebook fits your needs and if you can live with any shortcomings it might have. We can't do that for you.

 

I pulled the trigger and mine will be here on Tuesday.

 

To answer one of your questions, the Win8 key you get w/ the $14.99 special is a full key. You can perform a clean install of Win8 and it doesn't check for an existing install of Windows. I did it to my XPS 14. You will have to run the "Microsoft Upgrade Assistant" but it will give you the option to create a DVD or USB stick with the Win8 installer. Then, you can boot off it and perform the full/clean install.

 

Thats great to know. One more question, Can you use this boot USB later on (like 6 months or a year, whenever you screw up your computer) to re-install Windows 8 again?

 

Ok, so I replaced the 500GB hard drive and 32GB mSATA cache SSD with a 240GB mSATA SSD and a 300GB Intel 320 series SSD. I'll be using the 240GB mSATA SSD as the primary and the Intel as a storage drive.

Both SSDs are blank (no partitions at all). Is installing Windows 8 as easy as 7? I just put the CD in my USB DVD-Burner and boot the CD to install Windows 8 on the mSATA drive? Or is there anything special I need to do?

 

If i buy xps 14 in the Microsoft store how i get warranty?
it is dell International warranty?
i am not from the us
how mach time is the warranty

edit/
what the different expect win 8 ?
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/en_US/pd/Dell-XPS-14-Notebook/productID.256223300

 

Enable UEFI in the BIOS options first then install.

 

That's it? Just enable UEFI, boot the Windows 8 disc and follow the prompts?

Thanks.

 

I'm not sure if it's the stock mSATA that comes with the XPS 14 or the interface but the Write on the mSATA is a lot slower than the SSD. Just ran ATTO and came up with the following

Samsung 830 SSD = 336 Write / 540 Read
Samsung PM830 mSata = 91 Write / 405 Read

The reviews out there suggest the 830SSD is capable of 260MB/s write but the real-world is a lot slower. The difference between a hibernation partition on the mSATA was noticeable. I'd guess that putting your OS there would also be noticeably slower.

Strongly recommend using SSD as your root drive and mSATA as your storage.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I did ask earlier in the thread if anyone knew whether the mSATA slot is SATA3 or SATA2 and got replies back saying it was SATA3. Thanks for doing the benchmarks. I was about to install Windows on the mSATA drive.

 

That MS Store price on the XPS 14 is a good deal - it's $400 less than the Dell website (although you should be able to get a few hundred off if you keep an eye out for coupons) but as MSGaldenzi points out you're probably not getting the XPS door-to-door service.

That being said...

With my XPS 15z I bought a refurb from somebody off eBay from the US (I'm in Canada). When the screen started going wonky it took me about an hour of phone hopping between US and Canada and by the time I was done they serviced it in Canada XPS style. Now the system was originally from Dell Outlet so they may make a difference but the XPS concierge service is unbelievable. Is it worth $400? Depends how lucky you are. My refurbished 15z went in for service 4 times in a year but that probably has a lot to do with it being a refurb. My 14 has required 1 trip in (wonky video) and was out of my hands for less than 36 hours.